College and Research Libraries 548 I College & Research Libraries • November 1977 Ladd, Boyd. National Inventory of Libra- ry Needs, 1975. Resources Needed for Public and Academic Libraries and Pub- lic School Library/Media Centers. A Study Submitted by Boyd Ladd to the N a- tiona! Commission on Libraries and Infor- mation Science, March 1977. Washing- ton: Govt. Print. Off., 1977. 275p. $3.60. LC 77-8216. What an infuriating grab bag of a vol- ume this is! If only it had been called "A Source Book of Resource Data Collected by LIBGIS" or some such title rather than National Inventory of Library Needs; the one title so modest, the other so certain, so sure. The book . is a compilation of public li- braries', school library I media centers', and academic libraries' data reported in the 1974 and 1975 LIBGIS surveys to the Na- tional Center for Education Statistics. The data are then compared with standards "to the degree that professional deliberation has provided some consensus on the levels 'needed.'" Then projections of ·"need" are made. To concentrate on academic libraries: Did you know that a one-time expenditure of $1.5 billion would buy us all the books we are missing and that we would only also have to increase our annual expenditure by about a third, from $300 million to $400 million a year, and we could keep steady? Yet did you also know that, in total, collec- tions in academic libraries are 99 percent "adequate" but that two-year colleges are 50 percent "adequate" and public four-year col- leges are exactly 100 percent "adequate"; that private universities are 177 percent "adequate," while public universities are only 111 percent adequate? What a mistake to qualify an absolute term like "adequate," and what nonsense the results! What I've tried to illustrate in the above examples is the wisdom of a comment made by Boyd Ladd, the compiler, in his preface: "Interpretive analysis has intentionally been limited, in the expectation that many analy- ses will and should be made from different philosophic stances." Now, therefore, my philosophic stance> again concentrating on academic libraries: 1. The data, inasmuch as we have learned to count things consistently, are fine. Mr. Ladd's compilations and tables are excellent, diligent, and comprehensive. 2. The data are not strong enough to withstand the analysis thrust upon them, and the misinterpretations that are bound to follow when budget offi- cers get their hands on them. 3. The standards are wrong and, in some cases, have been specifically discredit- ed. Current knowledge and the re- sults of work, such as the Pittsburgh work on collection use, the "inventory law," and so on, have not yet been in- corporated into "official" standards. 4. The standards and the data must be improved before such analyses can be made. 5. The standards are. all input standards. What ·is needed is a performance stan- dard, the technique for the attainment . of which will vary from library to li- brary. That is, some will need to in- vest in collections, others in interli- brary loan, others in on-line retrieval, others in student instruction, and so on. 6. I propose the following performance standard: 90 percent of all requests made of the library satisfied within forty-eight hours. In fairness, I have to say that both Al Trezza in his foreword and Ladd in his preface recognize the shortcomings and weaknesses. They rightly see the work as being stimulative of further work, particu- larly in the essential field of user studies. As Trezza says in his foreword: The extensive data will no doubt sug- gest some relationships and interpretations not expected, and lead to some hypotheses which challenge the conventional wisdom in our profession. Resulting questions are expected to stimulate further analysis lead- ing to a better understanding of the re- sources appropriate to effective library and information services. This compilation is probably the most important book of the year. We should all buy it, read it, understand it; and then sit down and have a good long think.-Glyn T. Evans, Director of Library Services, State University of New York, Albany. McCullough, Kathleen; Posey, Edwin D.; and Pickett, Doyle C. Approval Plans and Academic Libr·aries: An lnterpre- five Survey. A Neal-Schuman Profession- al Book. Phoenix, Arix.: Oryx Press, 1977. 154p. $11.95. LC 77-8514. ISBN 0- 912700-05-X. Approval Plans and Academic Libraries: An Interpretive Survey provides a much- needed source for the practitioner. The pri- mary purpose of the study is the determina- tion of the state of the art among academic libraries. These findings are then compared to the approval plan experience at Purdue University. The authors represent a ra"ther unique team of two librarians and a businessman, each recognized and respected for long- term contributions to the profession. The book describes the results of the sur- vey that was mailed to 144 academic librar- ies ( 101 responding) and analyzes the material in both detailed and summarized formats in seve·n. sections. The interpreta- tion of these results offers probably the most valuable and intriguing part of the book. The design of the research methodol- ogy and information gathering question- naire and the independent evaluation and interpretation of the findings are both sig- nificant achievements. McCullough points to the fact that the survey was not concerned with acquisitions routines but focused instead on the function of approval plans in collection develop- ment. She says that an approval plan is ultimately a collection development tool and only incidentally an acquisitions de- vice. She discusses the various difficulties brought out by the survey respondents and contrasts procedures and problems en- countered by libraries, whether having cen- tralized or decentralized collections. Her sharp observations and analytical solutions should be of great interest to the reader. Posey writes from the subject-specialist viewpoint. He looks on approval plans as a great asset to collection development pro- grams and as an attractive labor saving tool. He is amused by the critics of ap- proval plans who claim that such an ap- proach to collection development is inferior. Posey defends approval plans, point by point, and justifies his reasons with convinc- ing arguments. He states that the engineer- ing library at Purdue purchases books for two reasons: ( 1) to support teaching and research and ( 2) to build an archival col- Recent Publications I 549 lection for the use of retrospective research- ers. These reasons are well met by the approval plan at that institution. The suppliers' view is presented by Pickett's Response. Pickett underscores the fact that the approval plan concept has long suffered from a basic misunderstand- ing of its intent, unrealistic expectations of its strengths, and little attention to any limi- tations. He emphasizes the importance of profile design. Without a good profile and knowledge of its application, the best plan is certain to encounter difficulties. His com- ments and perceptions may be most help- ful in creating a better understanding and stronger relationship between libraries and vendors. The publication is largely a presentation of library practices in matters of approval plans. The information it contains should prove helpful to individual institutions seek- ing to establish comparative guidelines of common procedures. Approval plans are, however, unique institutional ·experiences from which helpful interpretations and gen- eralized conclusions can be drawn, but cau- tiously applied. The book principally addresses approval plans as a collections-development device and a vendor service, which fact makes this work valuable and attractive to a wide range of readership. It is well written, care- fully organized, and has a rather complete bibliography on the topic. For these rea- sons, Approval Plans should be considered a significant and major contribution to the field.-Peter Spyers-Duran, Director of the University Library, California State Univer- sity, Long Beach. International PRECIS Workshop, U niversi- ty of Maryland, 1976. ·The PRECIS In- dex System: Principles, Applications, and Prospects. Proceedings of the Inter- national PRECIS Workship, Sponsored by the College of Library and Information Services of the University of Maryland, October 15-17, 1976. Edited by Hans H. Wellisch. New York: H. W. Wilson Com- pany, 1977. 211p. $12.50 U.S. and Cana- da; $15.00 other countries. LC 77-1932. ISBN 0-8242-0611-8. Unlike many proceedings volumes, this one was well worth publishing. The work reported is both new and significant, the